Why Dipavali Is Being Celebrated On The Wrong Date By Malaysians

I can understand the confusion among the Tamil people regarding the Vedic calendar systems.
One of the reasons for this confusion is the adamance of the Tamil Nadu politicians and writers who insist on calling the Vedic solar calendar as the "Tamil" calendar (as if there is such a separate calendar), even giving different names in Tamil for the solar months than the rest of India who are following a common standard naming convention based on the Sanskrit names of the rasis.

Firstly, understand there is really no separate thing called the "Tamil" calendar. It's just that they have taken the Vedic solar calendar, and differentiated it simply by changing the names of solar months from Sanskrit (the language of the devas that the Dravidian politicians hate so much) to Tamil names, and then started calling it as the Tamil calendar as if it belongs to them only, ignoring the fact that the same solar calendar is also used all over India, especially for agricultural purposes, alongside the luni-solar calendar which is more commonly used for determining the anniversaries of religious festivals.

The proof of my statement that they are following the same Vedic solar calendar (but only calling it by different names) is that when the Tamils celebrate their harvest festival of Ponggal, the rest of India start off their Makara Sankranti celebrations. Likewise, when the Tamils celebrate their so-called Tamil New Year, the rest of India is celebrating the solar New Year (which is the more precise definition since the Sun completes a full revolution and returns to the first point of Aries on the sidereal zodiac). In the Punjab, the same day traditionally used to be celebrated as Baisakhi. After Indira Gandhi violated the sanctity of the Golden Temple of Amritsar by sending troops into the place of worship, the Sikh politicians, as a sign of protest, decided to move Baisakhi by one day to differentiate their festival from what they called as the "Hindu" New Year. Just see how politicians mess up the calendar because of their political differences without considering the confusion caused to the common people.

Of course, the Dravidian politicians of Tamil Nadu take first prize over anybody else. They have deliberately changed the "Tamil" Dipavali date to coincide with the disappearance day of one of their "acharyas", Narakasura, on the Krishna Caturdasi tithi to differentiate themselves from the rest of India who celebrate Dipavali on the Amavasi tithi of Damodara (Asvija) luni-solar month coinciding with Lord Ramacandra's triumphant return to Ayodhya. For the historic reasons behind the Dipavali festival, see my new KRSNA Pancanga Calendar 2009 celebrating the Ramayana theme (Lord Rama's return to Ayodhya is featured on the November page). This Amavasi tithi is gazetted as the Dipavali National holiday throughout India. But the Dravidian politicians, who have still not forgiven Lord Ramacandra for slaying their "hero" Ravana, could not accept the idea of dedicating the day in honour of the Lord. So they made a special application to the central government to change Dipavali for Tamil Nadu alone to coincide with Naraka Caturdasi, in remembrance of their other "hero" Narakasura, who met his end at the hands of Lord Krishna.

So this was the confusing situation in India itself. Although the traditional Amavasi date of Dipavali is gazetted and celebrated as the national holiday all over the country, the previous day is gazetted and celebrated as a state holiday in Tamil Nadu. That is not the only confusion. In their brazeness to re-brand and change all things Sanskrit into Tamil, the Dravidian politicians overlooked some technicalities. In Sanskrit, there is no confusion or ambiguity in the naming convention used for the Vedic solar and luni-solar months. The solar months are named after the rasi (sidereal zodiac sign) position of the Sun. The luni-solar months are named after the nakshatra (constellation) near which the Purnima (full Moon) tithi of the month occurs. In Tamil, the peculiarity is that the solar months are also named after the nakshatras, like the luni-solar, for reasons best known only to those who made the decision to deviate from the standard Sanskrit naming convention used all over India for the solar calendar. This deviation adds to the confusion of the Tamil-speaking people when the same nakshatra name can refer to either a solar month or a luni-solar month occurring at different points in time.

To give an example, take a look at my KRSNA Pancanga Calendar 2009 which simultaneously displays the Gaudiya-Vaisnava as well as all other calendar systems being discussed here, the Vedic luni-solar, solar and the Tamil equivalent names. Our Gaudiya-Vaisnava New Year starts (with Jagannatha Misra feast) on on the first day of Vishnu masa on 12MAR2009, the day after Sri Gaura Purnima. A fortnight later, the Vedic luni-solar first month of Chitra starts. This sets off a big celebration in Andra Pradesh and elsewhere, when the Telugu people and some other communities too celebrate their New Year. The Telugus call it Ugadi. In neighbouring Tamil Nadu, many people, especially those who are not aware that the luni-solar calendar is more popularly used by mainstream India, will be wondering what the fuss is all about because for them "Chitra" month, and subsequently New Year, does not start until the Sun completes his revolution of the sidereal zodiac and enters the first point of Mesha (Aries) in mid-April. This is because they happen to call the solar month of Mesha (Aries) too after Chitra nakshatra. Just see how confusing things can get for them: the Purnima tithi of Chitra luni-solar month occurs on 09APR2009. Whereas the Purnima tithi of Mesha solar month (which the Tamils insist on calling as Chitra too) is one month later on 09MAY2009. Therefore the festival called Chitra Purnima is celebrated on that day in Tamil Nadu although it may not coincide with the Purnima tithi of Chitra luni-solar month. In 2008, the Chitra Purnima festival coincided with Chitra luni-solar month, but next year, it will be in Vaisakha luni-solar month and not Chitra.

The problem would have been confined to Tamil Nadu alone. Unfortunately it got exported overseas to Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka and other places where Tamils form the majority of the Indian community when their leaders took their cue from Tamil Nadu, instead of mainstream India, for determining the local Hindu calendar and their festival dates. For example, in Malaysia and Singapore, the clueless politicians who advised the government on fixing the national holiday dates for Dipavali followed the state holiday of Tamil Nadu, instead of the national holiday of India. This means that for God-knows-how-many-years, Malaysians and Singaporeans have been unknowingly celebrating Naraka Caturdasi (Narakasura's disappearance day) as Dipavali when the great festival of lights was originally enacted by the citizens of Ayodhya to welcome their beloved Lord Ramacandra back home after a 14-year separation on the moonless night of Amavasi tithi. "Hari ini dalam sejarah" gone awry in Bolehland. I have pointed out this lapse several times before, in the hope that people will eventually understand and get their politicians and religious leaders to correct the mistake.

Now to get to the questions you encountered during Damodara festival when the Malaysian Tamils asked you why we are celebrating Kartika month on different dates than them. Part of the answer has already been explained above. They are comparing apples and oranges: the luni-solar month of Kartika to the solar month of Vrischika (Scorpio) which in Tamil is also called Kartika. The Gaudiya-Vaisnava Damodara month covers half of Kartika luni-solar month. Throughout our Damodara masa this year, the Sun had not yet entered Vrischika (Scorpio) rasi. Not surprisingly, many local Tamils were wondering what the Hare Krishnas are up to this time, lighting ghee lamps when the "Kartika" solar month has not yet started. They mistakenly assumed that we were concocting the Kartika festival of lights in advance. This is the result of the damage done by the Tamil Nadu politicians that got exported overseas.

In reality, compared to the current Tamil practice, we are following more closely to the original tradition of lighting the ghee lamps during the Kartika luni-solar month.
There is scriptural evidence in support of this tradition even prior to the Damodara festival.
Here is actual chronology of events from Vedic scriptures such as the Ramayana (I have also published it in the KRSNA Pancanga Calendar 2009):
The wondrous Pushpaka vimana (airship) carrying Lord Ramacandra and His entourage (including the vanaras who had fought for His sake) landed near Ayodhya, guided by the lamps lit up by the welcoming citizens on the moonless night of Amavasi tithi of Asvija luni-solar masa about two million years ago. The next day Kartika luni-solar masa started. Lord Ramacandra was crowned by Vasishta Muni as the emperor of the world. The people joyfully celebrated the Sri Rama Pattabhishekam event. Thus, the festival of lights which started on the Amavasi tithi continued into Kartika masa as the people celebrated the coronation of Lord Ramacandra as the emperor of the world. The world has not seen another emperor like Him since.

Source:
Goloka Candra dasa
goloka@vastuproperty.com
PS: You may forward my text to those who had given other arguments as below in the public forums.
This will provoke more responses and thus give you more opportunity to preach to them.